All About Average Betty

“Average people do amazing things every day. You don’t have to be Oprah or Ellen to make a difference in someone’s life. And sometimes the most important thing you can do for the people you love is feed them.” — Sara O’Donnell, Average Betty

Average Betty videos and recipes create a positive environment for the exploration of all foods. From not-so-secret family recipes to the kitchens of James Beard Award winning chefs and all the morsels in between, Average Betty uncovers the treasures and chuckles that surround good food.

Why Average Betty? I know. This website is called Average Betty and my name is Sara. You see, here in Southern California, “Betty” is slang for the word gal similar to how “Joe” is slang for a guy. For example: Average Joe, Joe Six Pack, Joe the Plumber. Well, I’m Average Betty. I’m not a diva, I’m not a chef and I’m certainly not a guru. I’m just an average betty that loves food, wine, art and music. I also like to party.

Why food? I am the last of six children from a middle class family; needless to say I was in the kitchen a lot helping prepare meals. I put myself through college working in the bar-restaurant business. Cooking, baking, entertaining and grocery shopping have always been a part of my life.

With the rise in convenience products and increasingly busy lifestyles, many people are no longer eating meals at home, prepared from whole foods. So I decided to make food the focus of Average Betty. Not with the ambition to solve the obesity epidemic, but with the ambition of getting more people in the kitchen again to prepare their own meals and have an ongoing, positive discussion about food.

So my mom posted your chicken tazer video on myspace, and I have to say your non-conventional marketing tactics are awesome! Seriously, this was amazing! I’m definitely forwarding it on to all of my advertising friends and I’m sure we’ll all be copycatting your ingenious methods of punk marketing now ;)

betty: I love it I love it i love it!!! I am a muslim who eats only halal or kosher meat. therefore, I haven’t been able to eat any chinese food ever since I’ve gone halal. When I watched your fried rice presentation, I thought to myself: wait a minute!! I can do that with halal meat from the market. WOULD YOU PLEASEEEEEEE teach me how to make sweet and sour chicken. Loved your fried rice. God bless and thank you. Halalone

Love your stuff Betty. Are you single? Hey I have a challenge for you. I am a pilot and away from home for 4 days at a time. I am so tired of eating out. I would love to see what you can come up with. Something quick, easy and I can bring along with me. Preferably something that doesnt need to be re-heated. I have a cooler so keeping it cold is no prob. Oh by the way, when do we get to see bikini Betty?

Hi Rob! I love your challenge! I have some ideas already… but maybe you should tell me what your tastes are – question for ya: do you like curry? And, oh… “Bikini Betty” has made a few debuts (under different guises) in Fajquitos: Toma Dos, Mac Daddy n Cheese and, I don’t know if it’s exactly a bikini, but The Cuckoonut Shrimp Fairy!

Love your videos. Think you’re a breath of fresh air in the kinda stuffy cooking industry!!

I’d be interested in talking to you about a potential commercial venture. you can contact myself or my colleague Niall Harbison (niall.harbison@ifoods.tv). We’re based in Dublin so if you’d like to talk on skype or we could give you a call just let us know.

Betty, yes I like curry and pretty much anything else. Easy to please, haha. I look forward to seeing what you can come up with. I enjoy Bikini Betty anytime she makes an appearance, but you never answered my 1st question…are you single?

Hey Scott! I LOVE catfish! When I was a little girl, my Uncle had a farm in Alabama and raised catfish… of course I didn’t like fish then… kinda the story behind “Fish Camp.”

The seasoning combination in the Fish Camp recipe is how I would prepare almost any whitefish. But I would use the spices as more of a “rub” and blacken the fish in a skillet. The red pepper aioli would be great too. http://www.averagebetty.com/?p=119

I’ve had catfish at this swanky restaurant in Del Mar where they bread it with a mustard batter and serve it on a bed of succotash of roasted corn, potatoes and onions. Delicious!

Mmmm, now you have made me hungry for catfish Scott! Hope this helped ;)

Betty, Thankyou for the above info,i cooked it,chowed down and loved it !!! In your 911 video you say something about somebody getting wacked, that tell’s me you know people in New York,Chicago ect.I know you could make the planet laugh and eat if you cooked something Italian and had a mob theme video FUHGEDABOUDIT Scott Moorhouse

hello betty first of all you look hot and you are so funny :). anyway let get back to bussines I like to ask you something about this site. I am planning the same concept in turkish site. how much does this cost and how much do you make from here ? you see I am a nerdy webmaster I know how to build these things but I dunno the bussines part much. you can mail me directly from my email adress I think it would be better because this questions are not about food :)

Hey Scott! They did -all thanks to those three easy steps! It was a lot of fun getting this recipe from my Mom and knowing in the back of my mind what was brewing. HeeHee. I was a bit like Emo Betty when I was a kid – my poor Mom!

I must tell you… making Hollandaise your first time is scary! (It’s the first sauce they teach you to make in cooking school… I guess cause it can make you or break you! Pun intended!) Just keep the water in your double boiler hot-not boiling and whisk like a mad man!

Eggs Benedict is truly one of my favorite indulgences and if you can treat someone to it… they will be more than impressed ;)

BETTY FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Betty it took a few times to get the Happy Hollandaise down pat,but I got it.Spin-ach soup will be on the menu for this football weekend,it looks good.Sen.Betty said FUHGEDABOUDIT,that makes me think of pasta.How about you???????????

Hey Scott! Woo-Hoo! I am so glad you stuck with the Hollandaise! It looks so easy, but can be tricky. And so glad you are going to give the Spinach Soup a try!

Just experimented with a baked ziti this week ;) Fuhgedaboudit! I want to do an eggplant parm too… and a simple Alfredo… mmm. I’m getting hungry!

“Mahalo” is like “good-bye” or “you’re welcome” in Hawaiian. The response to “Aloha.” So, Mahaloxoxo was my silly way of saying “Love from Hawaii” because when I wrote to you last… I was there. And, I miss that place already!

Betty, I recently discovered you (my loss) with Fried Rice Demons! You have an awesome Kei!! Of course seeing that video led me to watch several more, each one better then the one before. I especially loved the Blind Date Betty / valentine cookie recipe.

I’d like to feature your fried rice video in my blog but don’t know your policies… BTW made the recipe last night and it rocks! Not only are you gorgeous and funny but you can cook!!

Any chance Blind Date Betty is free tonight? I know this great Crouton place!

I am so glad you found me! Thank you very much for all the wonderful compliments… and I must agree with you, Blind Date Betty is my favorite character too! She did get pretty lucky with Biff… but I don’t know if it will last :)

I would be honored to have you feature my video on your blog! Embed away…

I’m really glad to hear you tried the Fried Rice recipe – I always love to hear how my recipes work out and if you have any changes.

Sorry for the delayed response, things have been rather busy on this end. Thank you for the permission to reprint the recipe, if you want to post a comment…hint, hint… you can go directly the post here.

If I jazz up the recipe the next time I make it I’ll let you know. If you don’t think thing will last between Blind Date Betty and Biff feel free to give her my number, I’m a prow at the Heimlich maneuver!!

OF COURSE, YOU’RE THE BEST…. SIMPLE SUGGESTION; SORT RECIPES BY ACTUAL “NAME”, LIKE TOMATO SOUP, AND BY CATEGORY…DESERT, MAIN COURSE, ETC. YOU KNOW, SOMETHING WE CAN UNDERSTAND. CAUSE WE’RE SLOW. NOW TO GO LOOK UP THE BIKINI BETTY RECIPES YOU MENTIONED…